Hippos and Nosebleeds
by Spongecatdog
Summary: Aoba is laughing, Sei is trying to hide a smile, and Koujaku has a nosebleed. Oh yeah. And there's a hippo involved too.


Honestly, the stuffed animal hippo was a gag gift for Koujaku and nothing more. Sei saw the tiny, grey hippo one day while he was walking around Midorijima and immediately thought of Aoba's strange nickname for Koujaku. Sei went inside the shop on whim bought it for him, already smiling at the face that Koujaku would make at the small, stuffed animal.

Koujaku was not one to disappoint when it came to reactions either.

Koujaku had blushed heavily and took the tiny stuffed animal in his hands. The black haired man looked away while mumbling words under his breath that sounded like '_Thank you_'. Needless to say, Koujaku looked completely adorable,stumbling over his words while holding a plush hippo. But when Aoba walked in the room and saw a blushing Koujaku with a tiny, gray hippo cradled in his arms, all hell broke loose.

Two hours later and Aoba was still laughing while Sei tried to soothe Koujaku's burnt pride. Although Sei would be lying if he said he didn't have to hide a smile behind his hand every now and then whenever Aoba made another comment that hit home with Koujaku, making the man flinch. Sei wondered whether that shade of red Koujaku face was healthy. Finally, Aoba decided to give Koujaku a break and walk upstairs to run maintenance on Ren. The moment the blunet's door shut, Koujaku let out an exhausted breath and giving Sei a pitiful look that was quickly replaced with a look of light annoyance that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"That kid! Teasing his elders like that!"

Sei chuckled as Koujaku sent him a sullen, betrayed glance. It looked strange yet somewhat pitiful combined with the way Koujaku styled his hair. The hair covering half of his face seem to almost intensify his expression. Sei wondered if the extra hair was there to help hide Koujaku's blush. If it was, then the extra locks weren't doing much to help. If anything, Koujaku's hair seemed to make the red look brighter on his face; or maybe it was just the red Koujaku always wore?

"You didn't help at all either. I saw you over there laughing at me."

Koujaku was looking more and more like a child throwing a temper tantrum by the minute. But still, the sight of Koujaku acting so childishly (because there were no other words to describe Koujaku's reactions anymore) only made him more endearing to Sei. Sei smiled softly at the other with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh? Are you sure you could see me behind all the hair you were hiding behind?"

Koujaku made a strange strangled sound and flopped back onto the couch, still holding the tiny plush hippo. He propped it up on his lap so the hippo's big, glassy eyes faced his. Sei tilted his head to the side. His smile still remained on his face, slowly growing bigger.

"You don't have to keep it, you know. I can take it back if you don't want it."

Koujaku jerked his head up in shock with wide eyes before turning his head sharply to the side as if to try and hide the pout on his face. Despite the way the other man tried to angle his face away, Sei could still see the puckered lips and furrowed brows perfectly well. Sei had to resist the urge to chuckle at the scene lest Koujaku take it the wrong way.

"Its fine. I'll keep it."

Sei raised a hand to hide his growing smile and stifle laughter threatening to tumble out of his lips. This was an unexpected turn of events.

"Oh? Do you like it then?"

Koujaku shifted in his seat, fidgeting around as if to find something to distract him from Sei's question. Yet again Koujaku's eyes seemed to be drawn to the tiny hippo's eyes. He petted the hippo's head, reveling in the soft feel of its gray fur. He paused for a moment and looked up to look at Sei straight in the eyes.

"'Course I like it. Its from you. I like anything as long as its from you."

Sei blinked, slightly taken aback. Well that was….something he probably should have expected but didn't. Either way, it was nice to hear. Sei chuckled and moved to sit beside Koujaku, curling his arms around the other. Koujaku stiffened and then turned his head to look at Sei. When he noticed what Sei was doing, a smile found its way on his face. Koujaku shifted so that he was now facing Sei and wrapped his arms around the smaller male, nuzzling his soft, black hair. Sei moved closer so to fully snuggle Koujaku. The warmth of the older male was so pleasant that Sei found his eyes fluttering shut.

Despite the hippo being a joke gift, it was often seen around the house. Sei couldn't even count on two hands how many times he had come home to see the older male asleep on the couch with the stuffed animal in his arms. It was...a nice sight. Something Sei needed more than he thought he did. Seeing Koujaku asleep on the couch (probably waiting for him to return from work) was utterly adorable in a way only Koujaku could pull off.

Thus, the tiny stuffed animal had slowly worked its way into their lives.

So it really shouldn't have been much of a shock when Koujaku came home to see Sei half-sitting half-laying on the couch with the hippo on his lap. But still, the scene was too cute for Koujaku to handle. It didn't help that apparently Sei had pulled over one of Koujaku's stray kimonos and was currently using it as a blanket. But why was Sei...? Koujaku gulped lowly as realization sunk in and suddenly the whole situation got ten times cuter. Sei must have gotten lonely while he was out and decided to wait with the hippo. It wasn't hard to guess Sei had probably gotten cold as well due to the recent chilly weather and decided to use one of Koujaku's kimonos as a makeshift blanket.

Koujaku stared for a few more moments before he felt a warm trickle coming from his nose. He cursed and quietly walked as quickly as possible to the bathroom in an attempt to not wake the still asleep man on the couch. Maybe if he was lucky, he could clean up and cuddle next to Sei before he woke up from his nap...

His hope was in vain considering the moment Koujaku moved to open the bathroom door, Aoba bumped into him and looked up. Aoba immedietly broke into loud howls of laughter, waking Sei in the process. Koujaku hissed and tried to get around Aoba before he could crack any jokes. Aoba still managed to yell in a few jokes through the door. Even worse, Koujaku heard Sei giggling in the background. Koujaku sighed and clamped down harshly on his nose. He really didn't want to see Aoba's knowing smirk or Sei's eyes full of pity. Hell, he didn't even want to step outside of the bathroom anymore.

Koujaku _**really **_hated nosebleeds.


End file.
